sneeze catcher

this week's project: tissue cozies. they're really simple to make and i can use small pieces of leftover fabric to make them. i've learned that i have to plan a little when making projects sans pattern. especially if i want to make any modifications, like adding a key ring. it took a few tries to figure out what i was doing. always a live and learn experience. hopefully with time it'll all become second nature.

i was thinking about adding credit card holders to to the checkbook design. not sure if i want to revisit that project so soon. maybe in a few months. i really need to keep a sewing journal of some sort. with measurements, steps, etc. i have been downloading tutorials and printing them out for reference, so that's a start.

we've been getting a little bit of snow. not much to write home about. we were hoping to get some sledding in today, but so far not enough to cover the little bit we got last week. we need to break in the super sled dad got us for christmas. we might have to save it for tomorrow.

we're hitting the slopes tuesday. first time to actually go skiing since we've been here. i'll need a refresher for sure. i might end up taking snowboarding lessons instead. i want to give it a go. although watching the people trying over christmas break, i have a feeling i'll be spending most of my time on my butt. you gotta start somewhere.

a little over a week before we head to san antonio for the AAD (american academy of dermatology) meeting. i'm so excited to go. i can't wait to see everyone and there's gonna be so much to do while we're there. TONS of pictures to come, i can almost guarantee it! i'm so glad it's in a warm place this year. i'll have to bust out the shorts that have been packed away for months now. we're even going to do a little geocaching while in town. jamie wants to try it and i'll need to help her get the hang of it. she's planning on getting a gps when they get back to washington state. aaron and i have found it's a fantastic way to see the area. and all the ones i've downloaded are along the riverwalk so it should be fun!!

cache nab

"not leaving the house" isn't an entirely true statement. sunday aaron and i spent 3 hours searching for caches in the area. six finds including two micros. a few park and grabs including one at the mall. we went searching for the mall one last week and didn't have any luck. i checked with the cache log online and noticed someone found it after we searched. so i went back on my own and looked again. the coordinates took me to a light pole in the middle of the parking lot. completely baffled, i got out and looked all around the pole. i finally lifted up the base and voila...an altoid tin. clever hide.

aaron and a micro find. this one was hanging from the cap on a chain link fence.

barrel of monkeys? one of the things you can do is leave a little calling card in the cache if it's big enough. this is ours. i was hoping to use them on our next hunt.

unfortunately our next expedition yielded nothing. yesterday we went out and searched for a few more. we weren't having much luck and neither one of us could figure out why. it was frustrating. we returned home and i got online and all the caches we were looking for had been removed. apparently the guy was one step ahead of us and decided yesterday he was gonna leave the game and remove all his hides. what a relief, we thought we were going crazy and suddenly got really bad at playing. good to know it's neither.

aaron leaves for chicago this evening. i'll be flying solo til sunday. i am heading down to asheville saturday with jill and a few of the nurses from the clinic for a concert. bela fleck and nickel creek. i have no idea if i'm gonna like it, but it should be fun to go out. we're staying the night and doing a little sight seeing. i'll report back with pics later.

new addiction

just as i suspected, we are geocache hooked. on our 17 mile bike ride sunday, we stopped three times to treasure hunt. here's aaron and his dad stopping to look for the "mossy rock" cache. much to aaron's frustration, i found all three. after the second one he asked if i'd let him find at least one. unfortunately, i got a little excited when i saw it and let out a little squeal.

yes, we're addicted. since, we've each done one on our own. apparently there's a little subculture that goes along with caching. we're trying to learn the lingo and etiquette now. we'll be pros before too long. funny thought.

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Now playing: DETERMINATIONS - Housewife's Choice

geocaching

aaron's birthday is saturday and i was having a difficult time deciding what to get him. my standby has always been cardinal tickets, you can't go wrong with them as far as he's concerned. but with us moving so far away from any national league team, tickets aren't really an option. this year i decided to go another route.

the week before christmas aaron's gonna fly out to seattle and meet up with tom and a crew of his friends for five day hike/camping expedition. he's so excited to go, he's been preparing for months. tom told aaron not to worry about camping gear, he would provide most, if not all. only thing aaron needs is warm, waterproof clothing. tom sent aaron an actual checklist, one he must use everytime he goes camping. tom's very type-a in matters of organization so i wasn't surprised. the list has been sitting on our kitchen counter for weeks now and last week i decided something off of it would make a great birthday gift. he has a majority of the items, thermals, windbreaker, boots. i did notice a lot of items with gortex. (it's one of the best items to use to keep you warm and dry.) i looked everything up and apparently gortex also means you're gonna spend a pretty penny to stay warm and dry. anything with gortex is about 3x more than what you'd normally pay. i settled on a pair of socks. yes, i paid $50 for a pair of socks. he plans on going every year...so i justify the purchase as a long-term investment. plus i don't want him coming back with foot rot.

i did also purchase a hand-held gps device for him. since we've been hiking a lot, i thought it'd be something we both can use. plus, i wanted to try geocaching. what is geocaching? defined:

geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users. participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a gps unit. the basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. gps users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. all the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache.

it's like a modern day scavenger hunt. one of my blog buddies has one and used it while hiking in colorado. it just adds a twist to exploration. i'm so excited to try it out.

side note: mark, aaron's dad, is coming out here saturday to help celebrate both his and aaron's birthday. we've got a fun-filled week planned. we'll be doing a lot of boating, hiking and biking. hopefully i'll have pictures to post next week of all the fun.